Troopers Hope To Confiscate Car Of Driver After Repeat Dui Arrests

In the past five years, Luis Alonso Chinchilla of West Palm Beach has been arrested five times on charges of driving while drunk.

Chinchilla, who had his sixth DUI arrest Sunday, was released five days later, officials said Thursday.

Now the Florida Highway Patrol is hoping to keep Chinchilla -- whose license has been suspended for 10 years after at least three DUI convictions -- from getting behind the wheel by confiscating his car under a state law that took effect in January.

"We hope it will be a deterrent," Highway Patrol Lt. Pembrook Burrows said Thursday. "We would hope that the new law will let them know that we are serious about DUIs and that we will take forfeiture steps against you if you're caught driving drunk."

Chinchilla, of the 4800 block of Orleans Court, was released from the Broward County Jail on Thursday after posting $1,250 bail, officials said.

He was arrested Sunday afternoon after witnesses saw him strike a black Ford Mustang on Interstate 95 at Yamato Road and flee the scene, troopers said.

"He swerved in and out of traffic, on and off the road," Tara Lariscey, who was behind Chinchilla's car, told troopers. "He almost caused several accidents including [one with] my vehicle."

Several motorists called the Highway Patrol and reported the crash and Chinchilla's driving pattern to a dispatcher.

When troopers caught up with Chinchilla in Deerfield Beach -- about five miles from the crash site -- they learned his driver's license was suspended for 10 years for being a habitual DUI offender.

He failed a roadside sobriety test and refused a breathalyzer test at the jail, troopers said.

"His eyes were red, bloodshot and watery," Trooper Dwight Walton wrote in his report. "He was unable to successfully perform the walk-and-turn test, as he could not maintain his balance. He completely missed his nose with his finger."

Walton arrested Chinchilla on 17 different charges, including for refusing to sign the tickets, for not wearing a seat belt and for having an open container in the car.

Under the forfeiture law, law enforcement officers can seize the car of a suspected drunken driver if his driver's license has been suspended or revoked because of DUI convictions. Drunken driving is a misdemeanor charge -- unless the driver has three DUI convictions -- and otherwise would not warrant a seizure.

A similar law is credited with helping reduce drunken driving in North Carolina.

DUI seizures differ from other forfeitures in one important way: Seventy percent of any money collected must go back to the state coffers -- not to law enforcement agencies, as in all other forfeitures.

Troopers in Lantana have completed the process to confiscate two cars under the law so far. Statewide, the Highway Patrol has processed 66 cars, Burrows said.

C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6611.